Dong Xianguo, Shao Yu'ang, Ping Huihui, Tong Xiaojing, Wu Yue, Zhang Yunfan, Wang Mingxi, Zheng Zhiyuan, Zhao Jun, Wang Jie, Guo Zhiqian, Zhuang Liwei, Xu Yisheng
Key Laboratory for Advanced Materials and Joint International Research Laboratory of Precision Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Feringa Nobel Prize Scientist Joint Research Center, Institute of Fine Chemicals, School of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Shanghai 200237, P. R. China.
Key Laboratory of Green Chemical Engineering and Industrial Catalysis, School of Chemical Engineering, State Key Laboratory of Chemical Engineering, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai 200237, P. R. China.
ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2024 Oct 1. doi: 10.1021/acsami.4c08591.
Organic-inorganic hybrid resists offer a solution to the issue of low sensitivity in organic photoresists like poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA). In this study, an organic-inorganic hybrid resist (PMMA-AlO) with high sensitivity and resolution was prepared by depositing metal oxides into PMMA using sequential infiltration synthesis (SIS). PMMA-AlO was prepared by precisely controlling the number of SIS cycles (<23) in various atomic layer deposition (ALD) processes to facilitate the growth of metal oxides within PMMA pores. The impact of different metal oxide contents and distributions on the sensitivity and resolution of electron beam exposure was investigated. Numerical simulations of the deposit formation within the PMMA pores were performed by solving the pore-scale ALD governing equations fed by the reactor-scale boundary conditions. The gradual pore constriction with SIS cycles was predicted and validated by the experimental charaterizations. The results demonstrated that PMMA-AlO was prepared using 20 SIS cycles, which corresponds to the numerically predicted occurrence of the pore blockage at the upper region of the PMMA layer, exhibiting optimal electron beam (e-beam) resolution while enabling line exposure with a width of 50 nm. While the corresponding sensitivity was lower than those of the samples prepared using 5 and 10 SIS cycles, the degradation of the PMMA structure was affected under exposure. The pattern transfer results showed that the line width was well retained for 20 cycles of deposition because of the high etching resistance of AlO. This research is expected to provide an effective approach to developing next-generation high-performance photoresists.
有机-无机杂化抗蚀剂为解决诸如聚甲基丙烯酸甲酯（PMMA）等有机光刻胶灵敏度低的问题提供了一种解决方案。在本研究中，通过使用顺序浸润合成（SIS）将金属氧化物沉积到PMMA中，制备了一种具有高灵敏度和分辨率的有机-无机杂化抗蚀剂（PMMA-AlO）。通过精确控制各种原子层沉积（ALD）工艺中的SIS循环次数（<23次）来制备PMMA-AlO，以促进金属氧化物在PMMA孔隙内生长。研究了不同金属氧化物含量和分布对电子束曝光灵敏度和分辨率的影响。通过求解由反应器尺度边界条件输入的孔隙尺度ALD控制方程，对PMMA孔隙内沉积物的形成进行了数值模拟。通过实验表征预测并验证了随着SIS循环孔隙逐渐收缩的情况。结果表明，使用20次SIS循环制备的PMMA-AlO，这对应于数值预测的PMMA层上部区域孔隙堵塞的情况，在实现50nm线宽曝光的同时展现出最佳的电子束分辨率。虽然其相应的灵敏度低于使用5次和10次SIS循环制备的样品，但在曝光下PMMA结构的降解受到影响。图案转移结果表明，由于AlO具有高抗蚀刻性，沉积20次循环后线宽得到了很好的保留。该研究有望为开发下一代高性能光刻胶提供有效途径。
